1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of inputting previously print-destined data (i.e., data to be printed) in a rewritable card read/write apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, a rewritable card which carries rewritable print-destined data is employed in various commercial and other fields. Among others, the rewritable card is used widely as a so-called point card which is issued, for example, by the owner of a store or chain stores for the customers and which stores therein data of score or point which is incremented on a sale-by-sale basis so that the customer can enjoy a gift or coupon or discount equivalent to the accumulated monetary value indicated by the point recorded on the card. As an attempt for utilizing more effectively such point card, it is conceived to print on the point card the information concerning events or festivals scheduled to be held at a store or stores of a same group when the customer uses the point card, with the aim for promoting the merchandizing activity.
As a means for inputting such event information or the like, there can be conceived a method of utilizing a communication line or network on an on-line or off-line basis, a method of using general-purpose recording medium such as a floppy disk, a memory card or the like. However, the method relying on the line or network requires a large-scale system, involving high investment cost for realization. On the other hand, the method of using the general-purpose recording media such as the floppy disk or the like requires additional installation of a corresponding recording medium reading device in each of rewritable card read/write apparatuses employed in a card utilization system, incurring high cost for the realization.